Back in San Francisco all anyone mentioned when talking about the weather was “microclimates”. And it’s true, they really had things you could describe as such. I witnessed it myself! One moment you’re surrounded by mist, and five minutes of walking later you’re enjoying a nice and sunny day. Go beyond that mountaintop, and you’ll find pouring rain on most days, even though this side stays completely dry all of the time.

Not here in the Netherlands though. When it’s warm and humid here, it’s warm and humid everywhere. The coasts are an occasional exception, but that’s about it. Maybe that’s because we don’t have mountains to redirect incoming air currents into predictable patterns? Maybe air doesn’t even come in as predictably? We may be situated near an ocean, but our views are crowded with distant lands regardless.

We can do fairly accurate predictions of the weather these days, but still seemingly as far away from accurate simulations of it as we are of those of the universe. Microcosms, just as complex as the macrocosms that spawned them.

For now, I’ll just go back to the local tradition of complaining about the weather, regardless of what it’s like.
~ Fang